I'm all for picking up a good keys player - they seem rarer than hen's teeth here in the Blueridge. The good ones we can get to sit in but they keep pretty busy to be locked into anything permanent. I do like the space that a 4 piece band allows, it's easier to turn on a dime with fewer people too. That being said, I'd still love to have one.

If you're in a working band (ie getting paid reasonably for gigs) looking for a keyboard player for GD-based music and striking out finding one, I'd just go to any college music school and post your info---there's a TON of piano players out there---dime a dozen IMHO---they'll want paid but they should have no problem quickly learning tunes as needed. It's not like they'd be needing to memorize a 3 part Sonata in 2 weeks.

As for GD without keys---I think it's workable on a lot of songs but, there's a also some tunes that I think should be off limits without one---however, that never seemed to stop a LOT of bands I've seen from doing them anyhow.

I struggle at times to make things work without a second guitar player---to me, that's just as difficult with a lot of tunes.

I hear you, you'd think that a college town it wouldn't be that hard. It's also a pretty small town so I know most of the players here even the young kids. The music program has been slipping since Chip McNeil left and they haven't been attracting a lot of talent, at least piano talent. There's probably 4 or 5 guys out there I the whole area, play with a couple of them but they stY pretty busy. It'd be nice to have one steady person.